Poignant images of the city of Beirut:courtesy TIME magazine
I have been receiving email forwards from friends which have been criticizing India's so-called coward policy against terrorism while comparing it against that of Israel's. I cannot blame them for being incorrect, for when the anger of the recent Bombay blasts was fresh in my mind, I too thought that India is being a soft state and why not do an Israel in PoK atleast.
But now , after being more "informed", I think that it would be a folly to compare the situation in the Middle East with the one here. The comparision ends with the fact that both Israel and India are being terrorised and goes no further. The skirmish there, which might as well turn into a war, is like a David v/s Goliath fight where Israel is too mighty for the Hezbollah. And thats not the case here. Here we are talking about two nuclear nations and the repercussions of such a war here would be more grievous and long-lasting. This ofcourse doesn't mean that I wish to undermine the after-effects of current crisis in middle-east on the civilians there. Looking at the above pictures I certainly can't. There are many things we can emulate from Israel like building efficient intelligence organizations ala MOSAD, but certainly not the foohardy of going to war. War cannot be the solution. It is the last resort when the security and sovereignity of the country is threatened, like it was at the time of the Kargil intrusion.
The more the bombs affect the innocent civilians the more terrorists are born among them.
Have Wars ever brought peace in the history of mankind? NO.
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In the history of mankind, the Second World War seemed to bring abundant peace to the lands attacked by Germany, Japan, and Italy, and also to the inhabitants of the attacking states.
The Korean War brought peace and prosperity to the South Koreans. Unfortunately for the North Koreans, they were not conquered because of the intervention of the Chinese Communists. Had they been, they would also be enjoying peace and prosperity.
Certainly, the Revolutionary War which created the United States is directly responsible for the peace and prosperity we in the United States know today.
Had those wars not been fought, we would not be enjoying the freedoms we now take for granted.
There is a fundamental difference in a "revolutionary war" you are talking about and the kind of war US is waging in Iraq or it did in Vietnam or anywhere else.And the difference is the purpose. The purpose of the Wars waged by the US is no different than the colonisation purpose of the Europeans centuries ago.
Whenever there is a war many innocents lose their lives and as a consequence their dependents a livelihood. How can that bring peace? The Second World War which was majorly fought in the Europe may have brought prosperity in the US because of industrialization(selling of arms) and hence a "good cozy living" for the Americans. But did it give peace of mind to the kins and the relatives of the innocent who died? I guess NO.Go and ask the mother of a soldier who has died fighting for his country what she feels when she finds out that the war wasnt neccesary in the first place as in the case of the US war on Iraq when no WMDs were found in there.
But I agree that all this argument is from the humanitarian perpective.
I won't deny that the Second World War was neccessary to stop the Nazi Germany and its allies in their goal to force their ideology on other nations and hence threaten their independence. And it must have brought releif to the supressed nation, no doubt.
Thus one needs to have very strong reasons to go for War almost when it is inevitable.
As in the current Middle-East case it could have been avoided.
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